


Repo! II - The Repossession

by JuliaDeVille



Category: Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-19
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-04-10 01:32:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 15,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4372004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaDeVille/pseuds/JuliaDeVille
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Picking up where the 2008 film ended, Amber Sweet has taken over GeneCo and entrusted her brothers, Luigi and Pavi, to find Shiloh. Amber wants Shilo to be the new Repo Man, against her brothers' wishes. Shilo has teamed up with the Graverobber to farm street Zydrate. She's presented with the choice - Continue her father's work for the new regime or continue to be a criminal where the next corpse could be hers. (Contains profanity)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Luigi said as he stood in front of his sister’s desk. “You cannot fucking be serious, Sister.” 

Amber Sweet, the new head of GeneCo, had taken her father’s desk and responsibilities. Surrounded by her two bodyguards with gas masks, she cut a striking figure. “You’ll do as I tell you, Luigi. And you’ll take Pavi with you. Goodness knows that he needs to get out more often.” 

Pavi was laying on the couch admiring his latest face, which once belonged to Amber. “Why do I have to go outside? What’s wrong with the inside? Outside, the women, they want me. They cannot resist. It’s tiring to be so desired all the time.” 

“I don’t understand why the fuck you want us to go and do this,” Luigi said. He slammed his fist on her glass desk. The two guards, holding shotguns in their white gloved hands, stepped forward. Luigi raised his hands in surrender and backed away from the desk. “Fuck, Amber, it doesn’t make any goddamned sense.” 

“It makes perfect sense. You’re just too rage filled to see it.”

Pavi turned away from his mirror to look over at his siblings. “I don’t see why either. Please, explain to me Sister.” 

Amber sighed and shook her head. “You two are idiots. Let me make that perfectly clear,” she said as she stared down each one. “Father created an enemy when he killed the Repo Man. Then he died and that Shilo brat ran away. She’s now an enemy of GeneCo and of the Largo family. If we can bring her into the fold, we can keep an eye on her.

“Think of it as keeping your enemies closer.”

“That’s fucking stupid. You want your enemies dead or so fucking far away they can’t harm you. Why would you bring the wolf into the sheep’s pen when you can kill the wolf on the highway across the country?” Luigi said. He leaped backwards from his feet into a small round-backed chair. The chair wobbled as it leaned back onto two legs. Luigi adjusted his weight, settling the chair back down. 

“I wouldn’t expect you to get it,” she said, looking Luigi in the eye. “But I’m the one who is running GeneCo. We all voted. You voted for me. Pavi voted for me. I voted for me. That’s unanimous. Thus, this is my company and we do what I want. 

“And since you’re my head of security, this is a security operation. Now, you two, find her and bring her to me. For the love of God, do not fuck this up.” 

“Yes, Sister,” the both said in weak voices.

“Good. Now get the fuck out of my office.” She motioned for them to leave. Luigi and Pavi stood from their seats and made their way towards the elevator. They looked across the office towards their sister, who was reading charts handed to her by the Genturns. The elevator doors slid close.

“What a fucking bitch,” Luigi said.

“Brother, please. She is our sister. A little respect.”

“Okay, how’s this? She’s a fucking bitch. This is a bullshit job. It doesn’t even make sense.”

“It is what she wants, Brother. She is the boss. We must respect her choices.”

“This is a mistake. I’m saying it right now. This is a huge fucking mistake. Besides, where are we supposed to look for that girl anyway? We know that she’s not at her old home, as that’s now GeneCo property. We haven’t found her in any of the sweeps or the graveyards. There’s been no reports of her. Where the fuck are we supposed to find her? She’s a goddamned needle in a haystack.” 

“I do not know, Brother. You are the head of security. Perhaps we can ask the people in the security department. I’m sure they have done things like this before. We both know that Father was very hands on.” 

“Fine. But believe me, it’s going to take every bit of strength not to murder her right on the spot. It’s her fault all of this happened.” 

“Brother, remember, Father almost left the company to her. Then we’d have been the ones out on the street. It’s fortunate for us that she wanted to walk away.”

“Which brings me back to my point. What the hell is Amber thinking?” 

“Just trust her, Brother,” Pavi said as the elevator doors opened on the 14th floor. They stepped out into an office packed with women in suit jackets, fishnet stockings, ankle boots, gas masks, and shotguns at the ready. The women stood next to the desks where men sat in tiny white underpants typing away into antiquated computer systems, updating files and performing rudimentary tasks. 

“Fuck off,” Luigi said as he stepped out. The entire room went to attention. The men shot straight up, saluting him. The women presented arms, with their shotguns against their shoulders. With his command, the room returned to their working situation. 

Luigi went into his office with Pavi, slamming the door behind him. No one jumped or flinched at the sound. This was a common occurrence. 

Inside the office, Luigi flopped down into his chair. He tossed his polished leather boots up on to the desk. Pavi took a seat across the desk from him. He continued to stare into his mirror, constantly admiring his face. In his mind, he was the most attractive man on the planet. 

Luigi slammed his fist on to a communication panel built into his desk. “Fritz, get your fucking ass in here,” he howled. 

“Yes sir,” came the reply. Fritz’s voice quivered as he spoke, as if he was terrified for his life. 

Within a minute, Fritz walked into the room. He was a skinny guy wearing only the tiny white underpants. His body was pocked with scars and scabs. He shivered as he stood, little more than skin and bones. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

“I have a job for you and you better not screw it up. So help me, if you fuck it up, I will cut you into pieces and leave a little bit of you in every goddamned mailbox in this city. Clear?”

Fritz nodded furiously. “Yes sir.” 

“I need you to find Shilo Wallace. At least, give me some idea where she could be. I need to bring her in. So you find her, you tell me, I go get her. Understand?”

“Yes sir,” he replied, nodding again. 

“Get the fuck out of here.”

Fritz bolted for the door. Pavi looked away from the mirror and towards Luigi. “You should learn to be nicer to people.” 

“And you need to learn to shut the fuck up.”

The two men laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

“What are we doing here again?” Shilo asked. 

“It’s Thursday night. The Wellworth Cemetery always gets a new haul of bodies on Thursday afternoon. They will be left out until Friday morning. We have about six hours where we can steal the bodies and make street Z,” the Graverobber said. 

Shilo looked at the exterior walls of the cemetery. She saw twelve feet of cement, topped with concertina wire. Six sentry towers had been erected in all the corners of the cemetery, as well as two in the center. She couldn’t tell if the towers were manned or not, thanks to tinted glass inside the towers. What she could tell, amidst the flood lights, is that this would not be an easy task.

“And you’re sure we can do this? Like, you’ve done this before, right?” 

He nodded. “Yeah, it won’t be a problem if you stay with me and do exactly what I tell you.” 

“Yes sir,” she said in a mock salute. 

He scowled as he looked at her. “Remind me why I agreed to take you in?” 

“Because I’m adorable,” she said, smiling. Her head sat upon a false shelf she created with her hands. 

“This way,” he said. Her charms didn’t work on him. There were plenty of women throwing themselves at him. He was not interested. He had more important things on his mind. 

He walked in a crouching position, his back against the wall. He moved from east to west, trying to stay out of the sightlines of the towers. She walked as close behind him as she could. At the corner, he stood erect, placing his face along the wall. He twisted slightly and leaned around the corner the least amount possible in order to see around. There was no one walking along the perimeter of the cemetery. 

He motioned for her to follow and stay close as he flipped around the corner. He instantly went into a crouch and moved as quickly as possible towards the center of the wall. Just before the center was a small hedge. Behind the hedge, along the base of the wall, was a small hole where the Graverobber was just barely able to fit. 

On the other side of the fence was another row of hedges. These hedges blocked the hole. If you didn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t have found it. 

The Graverobber wriggled himself through the hole, then helped Shilo through. They crouched behind the hedge. From their hiding spot they could see the pile of bodies that were just added. They would have to travel about 200 yards from their spot to the pile. In their way was a bright sidewalk under floodlights, six sentry towers, an alarm system, and the threat of being shot on sight. There was no room for error. 

There was also no cover. There were no hedges or shrubs, no fences or structures that could shield them. It was an open run. 

“You ready for this, kid?” 

“I don’t really have a choice, do I,” she said with a smirk.

“Not really,” he said with a smirk back. “Just do exactly what I do.” 

She nodded. He dropped to the ground and laid on his belly. He slowly crawled along the wall, as low as possible. The bottom of the walls featured ditches which served as drainage, particularly during the rainy season. These ditches were rancid smelling thanks in part to the runoff of fluids and decomposed flesh that made its way into them. 

The Graverobber was used to these smells. Shilo was not. Her face recoiled as the smell penetrated her nostrils. Her stomach lurched over and over again, forcing stomach acid into her through. She swallowed each time, hoping to keep from adding her own fluids to the rancid soup she found herself in. 

They crawled, slowly, through the ditch and around the compound. The Graverobber knew that if they reached the pile of bodies, there was an access shaft into the catacombs where the bodies would be processed and stored. Once they made it that far, they were in the clear to obtain all the Zydrate they could harvest. 

They were only a few meters away from the access tunnel when the alarm began to sound. A voice began to call over the loudspeakers. 

“Intruder alert. Lethal force authorized. Intruder alert. Lethal force authorized.” 

A klaxon sounded throughout the yard. The sound sent Shilo’s heart racing. “Just say down,” the Graverobber said. “The alarm is not for us.” 

“How do you know?” she asked. 

He gestured with his head towards the center of the yard. Shilo shifted her gaze that way, taking care not to rise out of the ditch. 

She saw two graverobbers running through the courtyard. They were running with a large vial in each of their hands. These large vials would be distilled and cut, then packaged into Zydrate gun vials, which would find their way to the streets and back alley surgeons. 

If these two could escape without dying. 

POP POP POP. 

The two men fell to the ground in mid step. The vials clanged as they hit the ground, rolling toward the ditch. Towards Shilo’s position. Wanted to get up and run away. She wanted to disappear. She wanted that vial to stop rolling. 

It continued rolling down the slight incline towards her. She was convinced that she was going to be caught and killed, right then and there. This was her final moment. She would die in a ditch filled with rancid flesh and water. 

The vial began to veer off course, turning ever so slightly before hitting a rock. It spun in place a few times, then shot off into the grass. It was about twenty meters away from Shilo’s location.

She let out a sigh of relief. Once the alarms stopped, the Graverobber began moving again towards his access point. He moved with a deliberate purpose. Shilo followed him exactly. 

They moved through the muck until they reached the tunnel. The entire process, which would normally take three minutes, ended up taking ten minutes. They moved slower, listening and ensuring they were not being followed by the snipers in the towers. 

“Wait here,” the Graverobber said as he slipped into the access tunnel the catacomb. It was the most dangerous maneuver of the entire process, as they would be visible to the towers for at least one to two seconds. 

Once he was sure the coast was clear, he helped Shilo into the tunnel quickly. In less than five seconds, she was safely tucked away. They waited. 

The alarms did not sound. No bullets were fired off. They were in the clear. 

They took a few steps through the tunnel and into the massive underground pile of bodies. They stepped out into the large area filled with hundreds of corpses in various stages of decay. Some victims were more husk than human, thanks to the efforts of the Repo Man. 

Shilo shuddered at the sight of so many humans killed thanks to repossession efforts. Many of those at the hands of her own late father. 

The Graverobber made his way up the tower of bodies and pulled out his collection kit. Shilo was about to join him when she heard a familiar voice. 

“Hello, Shilo.” 

She looked down from her perch to see Luigi and Pavi Largo standing there. 

“I think it’s time we had a fucking conversation,” Luigi said as he ran his knife across his chest.


	3. Chapter 3

“What do you two want?” Shilo said, standing just inside the catacomb. “Why won’t you leave me alone?” 

“We,” Pavi said, pointing quickly between Luigi and himself, “do not want you. Amber wants you.” 

“What for?” 

“Fuck if we know. We just do what we’re told,” Luigi said. “Now, you’re coming with us.” He reached out to grab Shilo’s shoulder.

The Graverobber knocked his arm away. Luigi’s temper flared, just like his nostrils. “You touch her and I’ll end you.” 

“Not if I end you first, criminal scum.” 

The two men locked themselves into a show of machismo, complete with grunting and growling. 

“Knock it off,” Shilo said. “I’m not going anywhere with you. So you’ll have to kill me if you want to take me.” 

“I can arrange that,” Luigi said with a smile. 

“Please, Brother, calm down.” Pavi turned his attention towards Shilo and the Graverobber. “Amber wants to talk with you. That’s it. You can bring your friend. We’ll forget that you’re trying to steal corpses, a crime punishable by death on sight. We’ll ignore your trade in illegal Zydrate.”

“There’s no reason that I would come with you. Your family killed my father. Your family ruined my life. And now you want me to go with you willingly? You’ve lost your mind.” She turned and looked at the Graverobber. “Come on, let’s get what we came for and blow this popsicle stand.” 

She began trying to go past Luigi and Pavi, towards the corpses. The Graverobber followed behind her. He glared at Luigi as they moved beyond them. 

“You’re making a huge fucking mistake,” Luigi said. 

“Please, think about talking with Amber. She’s changed. We’ve changed. Come hear her out. No tricks,” he said with a smile. “Would this face lie?” 

The Graverobber groaned at the joke. “I’m sure you can do better than that,” he said with a gruff laugh. 

Pavi pouted. “I thought it was funny.” 

“I’m sure you did,” the Graverobber said, consoling him. 

Shilo made her way over to the corpses and pulled out her extractor kit. It consisted of a large needle affixed to a length of surgical tube which ran into a mason jar. She would use the needle and syringe to pull the street Zydrate compounds out from the individual’s nostril. A strange thing about Zydrate is that it doesn’t disappear from the body. It affixes to brain tissue, as well as a few other cells, inside the body. As the body begins to decompose, usually within the first two weeks, a large quantity can be extracted from the nostril with minimal effort. 

The drug would be cleaned through a filter system, similar to a Britta filter. This would purify it from any unfortunate decomposition fluids that mixed within it. 

Zydrate sold by GeneCo was 99.98 percent pure. Average street Z was 90.45 percent pure. The Z the Graverobber produced was 99.54 percent pure, thanks to a secret added step in the process. This helped him become one of the most sought after sellers in the entire city. 

Shilo went corpse by corpse, extracting the glowing blue drug in front of Luigi and Pavi. They made no effort to stop her, nor did they call for the guards. 

“Let’s go, Brother. It’s clear this one will not come with us today.” 

“You have today, you little bitch. But tomorrow? That’s my day. I’ll fuck you up. I’ll cut you to ribbons, you fucking understand me?” Luigi roared as Pavi took his arm and pulled him away. 

The Graverobber gave them the finger as they disappeared through the locked door marked “Employees Only”. 

“I’m proud of you, kid.” 

“Why’s that?” she said as she kicked another drained soul away. 

“You didn’t back down from them. You weren’t afraid to do what you wanted, right in front of their face. That takes balls.” 

“I’ve nothing to lose, really. Blind Mag is dead. My mother is dead. My father is dead. I’ve no siblings. I’ve no cousins. I’ve no family. This is all I’ve got. And one day, someone like me will be out here, trying to extract Zydrate from my husk before tossing me aside without a care of concern.” 

“If you’ve nothing to lose, why wouldn’t you go with them?” he asked, playing the Devil’s Advocate. “What if they have something to offer you that could make life worth living?” 

“Like what? I don’t want money. What else have they to offer me? I’ll take my chances on the outside.” Her jar filled. She removed the tube and capped the intake with a plug. She removed another jar from her pack before putting the filled one away. 

“You’re not the least bit curious what they have to say?” he asked, filling his first jar. 

Shilo shook her head. “Nope. They could all die off and I’d be happy.” 

“Imagine looking at their faces just before you steal their Z. It would be priceless.” 

“Think of the haul you’d get from Amber alone,” she said with a laugh. “She’s probably two jars by herself. 

“More. Definitely more,” he said. “I mean, her face did fall off and she didn’t even scream out in pain. That’s a woman who cannot live without Z.” 

“You know what I would love to see? I would love to see GeneCo completely collapse. The company disappear entirely. No more repossessions. No more contracts that screw people. No more deaths on a whim, like Mag’s.” 

“Then maybe that should be your purpose in life. Take down GeneCo. End it entirely.” 

Shilo shook her head as she topped off the last of the four jars she’d brought with her. With each jar having a street value of over ten grand, they were looking at over eighty-thousand credits just from today’s haul. It was a pretty penny. 

“I mean, it’s a nice dream and all, but there’s no way I’d be able to do it. They’re too powerful. They have too many connections. Too much money. It’s impossible.” 

“I wouldn’t say impossible,” he said, starting his last jar. “Just difficult.” 

“Okay. Let’s say that I wanted to take down GeneCo and that it was possible. What would my first step be, if you were in my shoes?” 

He smiled showing off a full row of perfectly white teeth. “I’d take that meeting with Amber Sweet.”


	4. Chapter 4

“I have to admit, I never expected to lay eyes on you again, Shilo,” Amber said, pouring herself a drink in her father’s old office. 

“That makes both of us,” Shilo said. Two of Amber’s security guards held Shilo’s upper arms, locking her in place. “So let’s get to the point. What do you want? To rub it in my face how your father killed my father after manipulating him my entire life?” 

“What’s the rush?” Amber said, slowly walking from the bar to her desk. “We have all the time in the world. Please, sit.” She gestured towards two chairs.

The security guards let her go and gently shoved her towards Amber. 

Shilo tried to shake off their hostility as she took two steps forward. “Why should I?” 

“Suit yourself,” Amber said as she took her seat. She kicked her feet up on the desk. Her knee-high leather boots disappeared behind the glass-and-metal structure. “If you really want to stand the entire time, that’s fine by me.” 

Shilo folded her arms across her chest. “What do you want? Why am I here?” 

“Patience, please,” Amber said. She sipped her drink and looked at the glass. “This was my father’s best scotch. It’s over a hundred years old. He paid a pretty penny for the bottle. Now here I am, drinking it like it’s water. Why? Because this is a new era for GeneCo.”

Shilo tapped her toe as she grew impatient. 

“And as this is a new era,” Amber continued, “we have found a vacancy in our staff. A vacancy I felt you would be most interested in filling.” 

“I’m not going to fuck you or your hideous brothers.”

Amber laughed. “Trust me, that is not the job I had in mind for you.”

“Then what?” 

Amber reached down beside her desk and lifted up a cardboard box. She placed it upon her desk. “Open it.” 

Shilo looked at Amber skeptically. 

“It’s safe, I promise.” 

Shilo slowly walked towards the box. Amber sat patiently, sipping her drink.  
Shilo could tell the box was old based on the faded appearance of the cardboard. The box showed signs of water damage, as if something was stored wet. She slowly lifted up the flaps to reveal a carefully folded black leather jacket. 

She pulled out the jacket and held it up. 

It was a Repo Man jacket. The box still held the boots, gloves, and helmet to go with the jacket. 

She dropped it on the desk and stepped away. Her face went pale. Her mouth tried to invert itself. 

“Is this some sort of sick fucking joke?” 

“No joke, Shilo. We need a new Repo Man. Who better than the daughter of the last Repo Man?”

Shilo backed away from the desk. “You must have lost your mind when your face fell off if you think I’d ever work for GeneCo. There’s no way I’d ever follow in my father’s footsteps. I’m not a monster like he was.” 

Amber laughed. “He did it because he loved you and your mother. He did it out of guilt. He did it because it was what he felt was best for his family. You honestly think he did it because he loved it? Do you think he wanted to be pretending to be a family doctor and talking to you calmly while he was ripping out a spine or packing up kidneys?” 

“I…” 

“Never thought about it, did you? You never once paused to think of all the things your father did for you that you took for granted. Even now, you still haven’t thought about what motivated him to become the Repo Man in the first place. 

“Oh sure, you could say that it was because of your mother’s death, but that’s not the whole story. It was out of guilt that he’d let her down by failing you that he turned to father and asked for a job. And boy, did that job pay nicely.” 

“You’re lying.”

Amber shrugged. “You don’t have to believe me. Just think about it. Think about all those nights your father was gone for long periods of time. Think of all those phone calls that you had where he wasn’t home and you’d hear something slightly off. 

“I mean, it never struck you as odd that you’d never seen or heard anything from anyone who was a patient of his? You may have been isolated, but you aren’t completely cut off. You’d have seen or heard or met someone. Yet, not a single soul.”

Amber smiled. 

Shilo shook her head. “Why would you think I’d want anything to do with that legacy?” 

“It was just a gut feeling I had. I thought you’d leap at the chance to work for GeneCo and earn a decent salary in this world. Maybe even enough to find a place for you and the Graverobber to live off the streets.”

“How did you…”

“I know everything, Shilo,” Amber said with a thin smile. “There are no secret from GeneCo.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“I found you, didn’t I? And we’ve known all along about your little Zydrate ring. You and your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Employer, whatever. Point is, we know everything that’s going on. You cannot hide from me, Shilo. So I’d strongly suggest you consider my offer of employment.” She slid the jacket towards Shilo. “Strongly.”

“I’m not interested. At all.” She turned her head and glanced towards the door. Two armed security guards stood next to it, one on each side. “So, if you don’t mind, I’m just going to head on out and leave you to your sadistic ways.” 

Amber smiled. “You’ll be back. I promise you that. You’ll be back.” 

Shilo walked towards the door. Over her shoulder, she flipped the bird in Amber’s direction. “Fuck off and die.” 

Shilo walked through the door and made her way out of the building. 

“That doesn’t seem to have gone well,” Pavi said from the couch. 

“Oh, poor, sweet, naive Pavi,” she said, rolling her glass in her hand. “That went exactly as I planned.”


	5. Chapter 5

“What a waste of my damn time,” Shilo said as she left the GeneCo headquarters. She stepped out into the dark, dirty streets and looked around. A few people walked past with somber faces. None spoke to anyone.

The world was a cold, dreary place in the shadow of GeneCo. 

Shilo made her way down the street towards the alleys where the junkies and addicts congregated. Even with the alleged crackdown by the police, there were plenty of customers to keep her pockets lined with credits. 

“How’d it go,” Graverobber asked as he appeared from an abandoned entrance way. 

“Waste of time, really.” 

“What did they want from you in the first place?” he asked, walking with her stride for stride. 

“Oh, you’ll love this. They want me to become the Repo Man and take over my father’s job. I mean, as if I’d ever want to work for the people that killed my family.” 

Graverobber stopped in his tracks. “They offered you a job, inside GeneCo?”

She stopped and turned to face him. “Yeah, but I’m not interested.” 

“Not so fast,” he said, holding up his hand. “I mean, there might be some benefit to us with you being inside the company.” 

She shook her head. “I’m not interested.” 

“We could get purer Zydrate. Greater quantities than we could ever extract from the dead. And we wouldn’t have to sneak around the graveyards anymore. We could be set for life in just a few short months.” 

“It’s not worth having to look into the faces of the people who killed my family. It’s not worth that daily reminder. I just can’t do it.” 

“Fuck, I’d do it,” he said. “Tell them to offer me the job.” 

“I think they’d just as likely shoot you on sight.” 

“Well, at least they know who I am,” he said with a toothy grin. 

Shilo began walking again. He dashed to keep up with her. 

“Listen, kid, I know that it wouldn’t be the easiest situation. I know you’d love to just forget them entirely. But hear me out. Please.” 

“You can talk,” she said. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to do anything more than listen.”

“That’s all I’m asking. Just hear me out.” 

“Damn, I just said I’d hear you out. What more do you want from me?” 

Graverobber rolled his eyes in her direction. “Let’s look at this from a logical, not emotional, standpoint. Beyond the potential to steal Zydrate direct from the source, there are some other benefits.”

“Like what?”

“You’ll earn their trust. That would take some of the heat off of us. You’d also have their ears, to some degree. Maybe that would be enough to start pushing GeneCo in a more positive direction. Change from within and all that.” 

Shilo shook her head. “There’s no way they’d ever listen to me.” 

“You don’t know that.” 

“This is the family that killed Mag because she was going to stop singing at the end of her contract, yet they somehow managed to say that she was in default. They can’t be trusted. They don’t listen to anything but their own greed.”

“Rotti didn’t listen. But Amber, she’s new to the position. She’s trying to make her mark on the company. She’s trying to restore the luster that was lost during the Genetic Opera. She might listen to you.” 

Shilo laughed. “She only listens to the Zydrate gun going click.” 

“Only when it’s pressed up against her anatomy,” he said with a laugh. “Seriously kid, you should consider this. It might be a good opportunity to exact some revenge.” 

“I’m not about revenge. I just want to put that behind me.” 

“Suit yourself. It’s your life. It’s your choice. I just know that I’d take the position and see where it lead me. And that’s the last I’m going to say about it.” 

Shilo stopped dead in her tracks. “Do you remember when Rotti said he’d sign the company over to me?” 

“Yeah, why?” he said, three steps in front of her. 

“Well, he said he’d leave GeneCo to me if I killed my father. And in a way, I did. I broke his heart. I may not have pulled the trigger, but I killed him. He wouldn’t have even been in that position if it wasn’t for me.” Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. 

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his trench coat. Her ran his hands over her back as she began to sob freely. “You didn’t kill him. They killed him. They put him in that situation. Don’t you think, even for one moment, that this is because of you.” 

“It is my fault. He’s not here. I could have saved him and he’s not here,” she sobbed into his chest. “My father is dead. My godmother is dead. My mother is dead. I’ve no one left.”

“You have me.” 

“You’re not family.”

“Not yet. But I’m as close as you’ve got.” He pulled her in closer, squeezing her. “And I’m not going anywhere. There hasn’t been a GeneCo cop that could catch me.” 

“Thank you,” she whispered. 

“Don’t mention it, kid.” 

The two stood on the street, just in front of an abandoned building. The windows and doors were boarded up. Nameless, faceless people walked by without the slightest interest in them. Traffic rolled past, kicking up clouds of thick black dust and smoke. 

In that moment, nothing else mattered except having someone to cry on.


	6. Chapter 6

Shilo stormed through the lobby of the GeneCo building as she made her way to the elevator. The security guards scrambled to stop her.

“Halt Intruder or we will open fire,” one guard commanded.

“Check the record. You'll almost certainly see that Miss Sweet is expecting me.”

“No one goes to see Miss Sweet without the proper clearance.”

“Shilo Wallace. Go ahead, check it. You'll see she's expecting me and that I'm pre-cleared.” She folded her arms over her chest as she stood confidently in front of the elevator doors.

The guard motioned to the two armed men closest to the communication center. The men nodded and began checking the system. 

After a few seconds, the taller of the two guards gave a thumbs up signal.

“You check out. This time,” he said. He glared at her as she smirked and made her way on to the elevator.

“Toodles,” she said, waving her fingers, as the doors closed in front of her. She hit the button for Amber’s office and took a deep breath.

“I’m doing the right thing. I’m doing the right thing,” she whispered to herself. The elevator made it’s way up the towering structure towards the top floor where Amber Sweet had her office. All the while, Shilo tried to steel herself. 

She still couldn’t believe she’d let Graverobber talk her into doing this. He was right about the lure of easy money. They could get enough credits from GeneCo’s Zydrate reserves to set them up for life in just a few short weeks. She could do that. She could go along with a plan for a few weeks if it meant a lifetime of happiness and wealth. 

A smile came across her face as she thought about all the things she could do with the credits. The smile disappeared as soon as the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. 

Amber was standing there, waiting. 

“I knew you’d be back,” she said with a smug smile. “Come in, come in,” she motioned. “Make yourself comfortable.” 

Shilo sighed and stepped out of the elevator into the office. Amber had spruced the place up since Shilo had been there last. New chairs and tables filled the space. The walls had gone from dark grey to a light and dark pink striped pattern. It looked like something out of a 1950s magazine. 

“Like what I’ve done with the place? I felt it needed a woman’s touch,” Amber said as she took a seat behind her desk. 

“It’s… different,” Shilo said. “Very pink.” 

“It’s my favorite color.”

“It’d have to be with that much of it on the walls.” 

Amber glared at Shilo, who was still standing. “Sit down, please. It's quite rude to stand while the hostess sits.” She motioned for Shilo to take a seat anywhere. 

Shilo, still leery from their last encounter, chose a seat along the wall, near where the bar was only days prior. 

“Better?” she asked, leaning back, kicking her feet over the arm of the chair. 

“It’ll do. Please take care not to damage my chair. It was expensive.” 

“I’ll try my best,” Shilo said. “So, shall we get to business?” 

“Of course,” Amber said. “Let’s start with the reason for your visit. I’m guessing it’s not because you wanted to check out my new office.” 

“You know exactly why I’m here. You were expecting me.” 

Amber smiled. “You’re right. I was expecting you. I knew you’d be back after our last meeting. I knew you’d come to see things my way. In time, that is.” She stood up from her desk. “Care for a drink?” 

“I’m okay, thanks,” Shilo said. “What made you think I’d be back or would even consider your offer?” 

Amber poured herself a drink while she spoke. “I made you an offer that you couldn’t refuse. The chance to follow in your father’s footsteps and protect his legacy. I also offered you a spot inside the kingdom my father offered to you. I couldn’t imagine you wouldn’t want to find out if you made the right decision that fateful night.” 

“Oh, trust me, the only mistake I made was not shooting your father.” There was an anger in Shilo’s voice. A hint of pure rage that stood out in comparison to her normal sweet tone. Something inside of her changed that night. Something that was just starting to come to the surface after all this time. 

Amber sensed it and smiled. 

“Here’s the deal. I want you to become the new Repo Man. I’ve decided to rename the position Repo Person or Repo Woman or whatever you want. The job pays a thousand credits a week, plus you and Graverobber can stay in a company house not too far from here. As an added bonus, I’ll let you take one case of pure Zydrate for every ten repossessions you perform for GeneCo. I know that’s the real reason you came, and I’m okay with that.” 

She smiled and walked over to where Shilo sat. She extended her hand out. 

“Do we have a deal?” 

Shilo looked at Amber with one eye cocked. “What’s the catch? Why would you be doing this? Why would you want me, of all people? There has to be something you’re not telling me.” 

Amber sighed and took a seat on the table in front of Shilo’s chair. “Okay, you’re right. There is something I’m not telling you.

“We’ve tried to hire others for this position, but their work has been less than desired. They destroy over half of the product they’re recovering. GeneCo is losing money because of their sloppy work. We are hoping that some of your father’s skill and precision is locked inside of you. We’re hoping that you can save GeneCo be being just as skilled as he was.” 

“Why on Earth would I want to save GeneCo after all they’ve done to me and my family? I swear, you people are insane.” 

“We have no one else to turn to, Shilo,” Amber said. Tears hung in the corners of her eyes. “I’m trying to make this a better company. I’m trying to repair the image my father left in his wake, but I need your help. I need someone to help me. I can’t do it all myself.” 

She broke down sobbing into her hands. Shilo looked around the room, trying not to focus on the crying woman. It was no use. She placed her hand on Amber’s back, sliding it back and forth, comforting her. 

“I’ll do it.” 

“Thank you,” Amber said between sobs. A big grin crossed her face. Her hair blocked Shilo from seeing this had all been a rouse.


	7. Chapter 7

Amber led Shilo into the heart of GeneCo. It was a large room filled with boxes upon boxes, racks upon racks, of supplies. Cartons of eyes, crates of hearts, containers of ears, and barrels of Zydrate as far as the eye could see. 

“This is our main warehouse. This is where we store all of our creations. When items are repossessed, they are inspected here by our panel of medical experts. Any imperfections are corrected before the item is scanned, stored, and ready for re-shipment. The more organs we’re able to repossess, the cheaper we can keep our prices so everyone can become the person they want, inside and out.” 

Shilo couldn’t believe how many people worked inside the warehouse. She imagined it would be primarily robots and electronics. Instead she found both male and female Genterns working tirelessly to keep up the with demand.

“That’s where you come in,” Amber said. She stopped and turned to Shilo. “This is where you’ll spend most of your time when you’re inside GeneCo.” She motioned to a set of double-doors reminiscent of a meat locker. “Go ahead. See your new home.” 

Shilo slowly moved towards the double-doors. She pushed them open, not sure what to expect. The door moved backwards to reveal a large room filled with surgical equipment, storage coolers, wash stations, and a metal cabinet. 

“Everything you need to become the Repo Man,” Amber said. 

“Repo Woman,” Shilo corrected. 

“Repo Woman, of course,” she said, correcting herself. “You’ll find all the equipment you’ll need. Scalpels, clamps, forceps. the works. There are three tool bags for you, as well as a full set on hand. The tool bags are designed to be kept nearby at all times.

“You’ll also find six uniforms exactly like the ones your father wore. These should be closer in size to your frame than his, of course.” She smiled as she looked at the shorter, thinner Shilo. 

“Is there anything else you think you’ll need before you take over as the Repo Woman?” 

Shilo looked around the room. She touched the operating table. It was cold and smooth. The tools were light yet balanced. The bags were hefty but not heavy. Even the uniform was surprisingly light and agile despite its menacing appearance. 

“Just one thing,” Shilo said. “Would it be possible to get a crash course in dissection from some of your medical staff? Just to ensure I know what I’m doing once I’m out in the field. It’s possible I may have some of father’s talent for the work, but I don’t have his medical training I’m afraid.” 

Amber nodded. “Of course. We weren’t going to send you out into the world without a little bit of training. I won’t lie to you. It will be a crash course. Two, three weeks, tops. We need to get you into the field as soon as possible. Replacement costs are causing the company to hemorrhage cash. We have to stop the bleeding immediately.” 

Shilo put on the uniform over her leggings and t-shirt. She slid the leather boots over her feet, leaving her sneakers on the floor next to the cabinet. She pulled on the gloves and secured them tightly. She put on the helmet, disappearing from sight. She flipped a switch on her belt that caused the helmet’s eyepiece to glow purple. She was still shielded from sight. 

“You look amazing,” Amber said as she admired her newest employee. “You look like you mean business, but aren’t afraid to look feminine while doing it.” 

“There’s more to life than looks,” Shilo said. 

“I know. There’s drug, boys, and money.” 

Shilo shook her head. “Tell me more about this training.” 

“Of course. I’ll have you work with one of our best Repo Men for a few days. We’ll also have you go through a crash course with Doctor Cutter on the human anatomy. He’ll show you all the parts and how to best remove them. You’ll also have a lot of homework from medical courses and videos to watch. It’s going to be a lot of studying, but I think someone of your pedigree should be able to handle it without any major issues.” 

“My pedigree, huh? I didn’t realize that my father left such a legacy.” 

“We all will leave a legacy. It’s up to those we leave behind to protect it.” 

“You know, you’re not the stupid drug addicted bitch I thought you were,” Shilo said. 

“And you’re not the weak and naive little girl I imagined you to be, either.” 

“Does this mean we’re friends now or something lame like that?” 

Amber laughed. “Could you imagine us having sleepovers and doing each other’s hair?” 

The two laughed so hard two Genterns entered the room to find out what all the noise was about. This caused them to laugh even harder. 

After a while, they slowly began to recover. They caught their breath and wiped away their tears. They held their sides, sore from doubling over so much. 

“Shilo, I never would have imagined it all that time ago. But now, I can say it with confidence. I think this is going to be the start of a dynamic partnership.” 

Shilo nodded. “I feel the same way.” 

“Now, let’s introduce you to Doctor Cutter so we can start your training. I want you to be making money for GeneCo as quickly as possible. I know you’re going to be a natural.” Amber’s face beamed with pride. It was clear she had a lot of faith in Shilo. 

Shilo was less certain of herself. She was doing this solely for the financial boost it would bring. She just hoped that she hadn’t made a deal with the devil that she couldn’t keep.


	8. Chapter 8

“Doctor Cutter, I’d like to introduce you to Shilo Wallace. She’s going to be your student for the next few weeks. We need to get her trained as quickly as possible, so I do hope you’ll do your best to get her ready for the field. We’re all depending on you both,” Amber said with a smile as she entered into Doctor Cutter’s small office. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Shilo,” he said as he extended his hand. Shilo met his hand and shook it firmly. “I remember working with your father before…” he trailed off. 

“It’s nice to meet you, too. I just hope that I can live up to the lofty expectations that he and Amber seem to have placed upon me.” 

“I’m sure you’ll be a chip off the old block,” Amber said. “You’ve got a lot on your hands. Best get to it,” she said as she departed. 

“Right, well, of course. We’ll have to start at the beginning. Do you know anything at all about anatomy, surgery, medicine, or GeneCo’s process? That’ll be a good frame of reference for me to build your curriculum.”

Shilo shook her head. “I know how to extract street Z from the dead. That’s about as technical as I get when it comes to this side of the equation.” 

He nodded as she spoke. “That’s okay. That’s quite okay. Just means that we have a lot of work ahead of us. I hope you’re okay with hard work.” 

“I don’t have a problem with working hard.” 

“How fast do you think you pick up new things?”

Shilo shrugged. “Average I guess. I’ve never really been in a situation where I’ve had to compare myself to others in that way.” 

“That means you didn’t go to public school,” he said as he stroked his chin. “Okay, okay. So, here’s what we’ll do.” 

He started grabbing textbooks from his shelves and piling them up. Seven thick volumes on surgical techniques throughout history. Six books on human anatomy. A five-book series on organ transplantation procedures. 

“Yes, this will be a good starting point. I need you to read every page of these books. Every page. As quickly as you can. I need you to read them all and try to retain as much as you can. Do you understand.” 

Shilo looked at the tower of books that stood nearly three feet tall. Her eyes grew at the size of the challenge in front of her. “I mean, I understand, but don’t you think that’s a bit much for three weeks?” 

“Three weeks?” he said with a laugh. “I need you to read all of these in the next two or three days. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to get trained properly to become a Repo Woman.” 

“I’m sorry, I must have had something stuck in my ear. It sounded like you said two or three days. As in forty-eight to seventy-two hours.” 

He nodded. “Exactly.” 

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” 

“No, it’s right between my ears. Exactly where I left it. You’ll need to read those when you’re not here. I’m going to be doing some transplants and you’ll have to assist me so you can see what it will look like putting the organs into the people. This will make it easier for you to remove them if they default on their payments.”

“So you want to read about twenty thousand pages in three days while watching you operate on people and trying to assist you in said procedure?” Shilo’s head was already overwhelmed by the pace and volume of everything taking place. 

“That’s just to start. I’ve got a series of videos that you’ll need to watch. The shortest one is two hours. They’re full medical procedures being completed by doctors like myself. It’ll be good to see other procedures than the ones I’ve got scheduled. You’ll also have a series of virtual operations you’ll need to perform as well as some interactive question and answer segments in the training. 

“If all of this goes well, you’ll be able to go out on some repossessions. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have a final exam where you’ll have to do a repossession in front of myself and a few other individuals. Pass that and you’ll be able to get out into the field full time.” 

He pushed his spectacles up his nose with his pinkie. “Any questions?” 

“Just one. Have you lost your fucking mind? Seriously. How is anyone supposed to do all of this in that short of a time?” 

He smiled. “That’s your problem, not mine. I have my job, safe and sound, here at GeneCo. You’re the one who should be worried. You’ve made a deal with the devil and she’s not afraid to collect payment.” 

Shilo took a deep breath. “I guess it’s time to get started,” she said, picking up the books and placing them into a backpack with the GeneCo logo on them. She knew all of the books wouldn’t fit into the bag, so she decided to take one group today, one tomorrow, and the third the next day. She still didn’t know how she’d get through all of those books in that amount of time without each book consisting of photos for the majority of the pages. 

She glanced through the anatomy series and saw several photos and illustrations, which helped her feel less overwhelmed. Until she realized the books were printing in eight point font. 

She sighed again. 

“Great,” Doctor Cutter said as he lept from his chair. “Follow me. Time to watch your first surgery. Watch. Don’t touch. Don’t do anything. You’re just going to stand beside me. Understood?” 

Shilo nodded. “I understand. What’s the surgery?” 

“You’ll love it. It’s one of my favorites to perform. We’re putting new lungs into a chain smoker. It never gets old seeing the muck that comes out of those people’s chests,” he said with glee. 

“Sounds great,” Shilo said as she rolled her eyes. “Sounds just fucking great.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Were you born fucking stupid, or did you just decide to wake up a goddamned idiot today?” 

Shilo shot the speaker the bird. “Fuck off. You don’t scare me.” 

“I’m not trying to scare you, sweetheart. I’m trying to say that you don’t know shit about shit.” 

“You’re right,” she said calmly. “I don’t know shit about shit. That’s why I’m here with you, learning how to do this repossession shit. So, how about you focus less on the insults and more on the removal of the spleen that we’re supposed to have back at GeneCo in less than an hour.” 

“Fucking cocky cunt, aren’t you?” 

“I have my moments. Thanks for noticing.” Shilo smiled at him. He shot her the bird through his full outfit. She was wearing her uniform, sans helmet. She didn’t like the way it felt on her head. 

He reached into his bag and pulled out a surgical scalpel with a handle that looked more appropriate on a garden spade. He spun it around like a pistol in the palm of his hand before clamping his fingers around the handle. 

“Time for the fun part,” he said as he sliced across the abdomen of an unconscious man. The body opened up to reveal pink and red and white tissue. A steady stream of hot red blood flew out of the abdominal cavity and into the air. 

A lot of it landed on Shilo’s face. She spat as the blood came in contact with her mouth. 

“That’s fucking disgusting,” she said, wiping herself clean. He just tapped his helmet and returned to the task at hand. 

He carefully cut through the body until he reached the spleen. He carefully cut around the organ, taking care not to damage it with the blade. When all the cuts had been performed, he reached in with his gloved hands and removed the organ. He held it over the body until a few drops of blood fell atop the now dead man. 

Satisfied, he placed the organ into a pop-up auto-cooling organ transport device. He closed the lid and returned his tools into his kit. 

“All done, Princess,” he said as he looked at Shilo, who was coating in blood. “Let’s get this bastard back to GeneCo.” He slapped the cooler’s side leaving a bloody glove print behind. 

Shilo followed as he walked off, leaving the remains of the deceased on the dining room table where they’d caught him preparing to feast. She took one last glimpse at the man’s eyes before she turned to catch up. The eyes were still and lifeless, yet still full of color. She wondered how many similar sets of eyes she’d look into before it was all said and done. She wondered if those eyes would haunt her, like the tales of soldiers from battles near and far. 

It was a concern she carried with herself. One that she couldn’t shake. One that she knew the answer to, but couldn’t bring herself to admit it.


	10. Chapter 10

“Shall we begin?” Amber asked the room. 

Doctor Cutter and the unnamed Repo Man both nodded in agreement. 

“Excellent. Now, Shilo, this is your final exam. Pass this and you’ll be a Repo Woman here at GeneCo. The first woman to hold the position of Repo Woman, to be exact.

“However, in order to obtain that title, you will have to perform three repossessions. Each must be to the standards of a Repo Man. I will provide you with all of the information and it’s up to you to deliver. Do you understand?”

Shilo, wearing her full Repo costume, nodded. “I understand.” 

“Fabulous. Your first target will be sent to your communicator. Good luck. You’ll need it,” Amber said as she turned and walked out of the surgical center. Doctor Cutter and the Repo Man both left just behind Amber. 

“Great,” Shilo said. “I can do this. I can totally do this.” 

In the middle of her pep talk, her communicator went off. Amber’s face beamed a few inches above Shilo’s wrist. Her face spun slowly in place as Amber spoke. 

“The information has been loaded into your communicator. Follow the directions until you reach the target. You’re going to recover GeneCo property. In this case, it’s a pair of breasts. Good luck.” 

Her face disappeared. The display panel showed a single blue arrow pointing towards cardinal north. Shilo grabbed her bag and set out to find the intended target. Her heart raced as her nerves began to kick into gear. She was nervous. She was worried. She was scared. 

But it was too late to back out now. This was the make-or-break moment Shilo knew would be coming in time. 

As she walked, the compass needle spun to indicate which direction she needed to go. If she walked in the correct direction, the needle became moved from blue to white to red. If she walked the wrong way, it moved from red to white to blue. 

“I had no idea that repossession was done by a deadly game of hot or cold,” Shilo mused to herself as she stepped out of the GeneCo offices and into the city streets. 

The compass told her to head to her right. Her heart told her to go to the left because of the layout of the city. 

She considered following the compass solely because of it being her first repossession, but decided to follow her instinct. That’s what her father would have expected out of her. 

She jogged down the street, checking her wrist with every few buildings passed. She watched as the needle became increasingly darker shades of blue. As she reached the end of the block where she intended to turn, the communicator began beeping and alerting her that she had veered too far off course. 

“Oh shut up,” she said as she made her way around the corner and down the block. She knew from her time running about with Graverobber that this was the fastest way to reach the location she estimated the victim to be kept at. 

She crossed another intersection and the beeping stopped. The needle continued pointing her in a different direction than the one she was heading. Shilo was confident in her intuition that she was making the correct choice. 

She rounded another corner. The needle readjusted and showed she was going the right way. It even started to become lighter shades of blue. That’s when she knew there was a bit of intuition to this job.

“Maybe that’s what Amber meant when she said a part of my father may be with me still,” Shilo mused as the needle turned red. 

She looked around and saw a dilapidated apartment building standing before her. It was the type of place that people ignored thanks to blight blindness. Even in a town like this, no one wants to think about the very poor, including the very poor. 

Shilo looked at the building and found the remains of an entranceway. The door had become barricaded by shopping trolleys and wooden crates. 

It was not a place that filled Shilo with warm fuzzies as she stepped inside. 

There were people sleeping on the stairs. There were people huddled together under rags as they sat on what remained of the tile flooring. 

The communicator pointed her upstairs. She slowly walked up the stairs, trying to avoid stepping on anyone. 

A small undernourished boy wearing half a shirt and a pair of shorts stood at the landing of the stairs, watching as Shilo made her way upstairs. 

“Hi,” she said in her softest, sweetest voice. 

“Repo!” he screamed on the top of his lungs before running off. People began getting up and running themselves. The building came to life in a fury of activity as people pushed and shoved to escape Shilo. 

The communicator had locked on to her target, now providing distance markers. She was within 50 meters of the target. She reached the landing and took off to the left, pushing people out of her way. 

At the end of the long hallway, she could see a large breasted blond woman running towards what used to be a window. The communicator positively identified her as the person in default. 

Shilo tried to make her way through the crowd as she watched the woman leap from the second floor to the street below. 

Shilo sighed as she stopped pressing forward. She turned and began going out the way she came. 

Outside, she made her way to the end of the building as people saw her and began running away for their lives. She walked around the corner to where she expected to see the blond woman laying in pain. 

Instead, she found the woman impaled on a metal fence post directly through the chest. 

“Well, fuck,” Shilo said as she examined the mess. “At least the implants are okay.” 

She set to work reclaiming GeneCo’s property. Trial one of three complete.


	11. Chapter 11

Shilo’s communicator went off almost immediately after she completed packing away the breast implants. Amber’s face began spinning again as she spoke. 

“Follow the communicator to your next target. You’re going to extract a brain from a ten-year-old boy because his parents defaulted. Good luck.” 

“A child?” Shilo said. “You didn’t say anything about a child.” 

She was talking to ghosts. Amber had disconnected the call before Shilo could respond. 

“Goddamn it. No one said anything about children.” It was something she had not expected when she agreed to the position. Sure, adults can enter into contracts and have their organs repossessed. They defaulted. It was the logical result of contract law.

Children? Children couldn’t enter into agreements with GeneCo. Only their parents could. And to have to repossess from a child because of the parents? It was enough to break one’s heart. 

Shilo was experiencing that herself as she grabbed her toolbag and the cooler with the breast implants. The communicator had no problem leading her directly towards the home of her target. 

She walked up to the door. She was not prepared for the parents to open the door willingly.

“You’re the Repo Man?” a somber looking woman asked.

“Woman,” Shilo corrected. 

“Is there anything we can do to stop this?” the equally somber looking man asked. “Anything at all?” 

Shilo shook her head. “I’m sorry.” 

The two parents looked at each other with despair in their eyes. They stepped into the home, motioning for Shilo to enter. It was not the typical way Repos were treated. 

The mother led the way towards the room where their son slept. He’d been in a coma for the last six months. All of the families funds were tied up in his care, trying to save his life. In their quest to save him, they ended up signing his death certificate. 

They tried a brain transplant to try and save their son. It was a new procedure where GeneCo would load all of the information from one brain into a new one, giving someone a new lease on life. For a price, of course. 

There was a drawback to the procedure. The brain may be new, but you couldn’t put the brain into another body. It would only recognize the original frame. Else the body would die and the brain would no longer function. 

It was not possible to use brain transplants and data migration to give people eternal life. Just to prolong it in one’s original body.

Or as original as one liked, thanks to GeneCo’s full line of products. 

“Can you please be gentle?” the father asked. “We’re hoping to have an open casket for his funeral.” 

Shilo nodded despite the daggers stabbing her in the heart. “I’ll do my best.” 

“He’s not going to suffer, is he?” the mother asked. “He’s been through so much. It would break my heart if he was going to suffer any longer.” 

“I’ll do the best that I can. I don’t want him to suffer either.” 

“Thank you,” she said. “I can’t watch this. Please, just let me know when it’s over.” 

Shilo nodded again. The mother kissed her boy on the forehead. The father did the same. Both parents stepped out the room leaving Shilo with the comatose boy. 

She placed her toolbag on the bed beside him and pulled out a syringe filled with chemical compound patented by GeneCo. It could kill a human being in a few seconds. She slid the needle into the boy’s arm and pressed the plunger. 

The boy’s heart stopped almost immediately as the compound did it’s job. She sighed at what she’d done, but knew that it was something she’d have to come to terms with. 

She remembered all of her training from the last few weeks with Doctor Cutter. She made an incision along the boy’s hairline using a surgical bone saw. She cut around the crown of his skull making the smallest opening that would allow her to remove the brain intact. 

She reached into his skull and removed the brain. She kept the stem in place as she separated the brain from the spine in a single clean motion. She placed the brain into another pop-up ready cooler. 

She looked at the remains of the boy. His thin lifeless body looked awkward and gangly with his skull opened up. 

Shilo sighed and replaced the skull cap. She then stitched up the wound, trying to make the seams invisible through his hair. 

Shilo finished putting her tools away and stepped out of the room. The parents looked at her, then at the floor. She looked at them, then to the floor. 

They all understood the sentiment. Tears began to stream from the mother’s face. She buried it into the chest of the father. He wept too as Shilo walked past silently. She carried her tools and two coolers. 

She walked out of the house, closing the door behind her on the way out. She began walking down the street when she heard the door open behind her. 

“Wait,” the mother said, running towards Shilo. Shilo stopped and waited as the woman ran towards her. 

The mother wrapped her arms around Shilo. She kissed the young Repo Woman on the cheek. 

“Thank you.” 

The gesture brought a tear to Shilo’s eye. It was probably the only time in history a Repo was thanked for doing their job.


	12. Chapter 12

“I see you have completed the first two repossessions. This is excellent news. Now, on to your final challenge before your skills are reviewed. For this repossession, I need you to bring me a trachea from a famous singer. A Miss Dakota Nebraska, Queen of the Plains,” Amber said over the communicator. “As always, the coordinates are in your communicator. Good luck. You’ll need it.” 

Amber’s head disappeared yet again as she completed her orders to Shilo. 

“How hard can it be? She’s a singer. It’s not like she’s a world famous track star,” Shilo said dismissively. 

She quickly followed the coordinates in the communicator to her final destination. It was becoming easier to understand how the tracking system worked in order to reach destinations. She was able to follow along and reach a spot just a few hundred yards away from Dakota’s home. 

It was a few hundred yards thanks, in large part, to a massive security fence, lined with cameras and concertina wire. The fence was nearly twenty feet high, three feet thick, and ringed by a double layer of concertina wire on top. The one entrance into the compound was only large enough to allow one vehicle to enter or exit at a time. 

“Okay, now I see what she was saying,” Shilo said as she examined the building. She knew it would be too much to ask for a similar reception to the one she received at the previous stop. This was going to take some skill if she wanted to perform the repossession. 

She walked around the compound looking for any sort of safe spot to try and invade. She knew full well the cameras were tracking her every move. Yet she still made two complete laps around the sprawling property. All the while, she never let go of her toolbag or the two coolers with her previous repossessions. 

“There’s no way in this place. Not over or through the fence, anyway. I guess I’ll have to just do this the painful way.” 

She walked up to the communication panel next to the gated entry to the homestead. She pressed the button and waited for a response from the host. 

“Look at me, ringing the doorbell. Like I’m a normal person. There’s nothing normal about this.” 

“Hello?” came a voice through the intercom system. “Is someone there?” 

“Oh, yes, hello. My name is Shilo. I’m a huge fan of Miss Nebraska’s. I’ve come to see her on behalf of GeneCo. We’re looking at potential sponsorship, similar to our old agreement with Blind Mag. If you’d like, I have the paperwork right here,” she said as she lifted up her bag. 

“Just a moment. Let me inquire,” the voice said. 

Shilo stood, tapping her toe, waiting for the voice to return. She wasn’t sure exactly why she’d said that about GeneCo. Would Dakota call to confirm? Would she be suspicious of someone making that offer?

“Come in,” the voice said upon returning. There was a buzz then a click as the gate unlatched. It began sliding down the driveway, giving Shilo ample space to walk into the compound and up to the front gates. 

The lawn was expertly manicured with each blade being almost exactly the height of the other. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. There weren’t a lot of lawns in the heart of the city. Even the graveyards were lacking in grass and vegetation these days. Turned out the plants didn’t like the chemicals humans were giving off after having their bodies manipulated by GeneCo and other similar companies promising a better you. 

Shilo reached the front door and knocked. She wasn’t sure how she’d be treated once the host saw her wearing her Repo uniform. 

The door opened and an elderly gentleman stood before her. He was dressed in a tuxedo and looked much older than he really was. “Come this way, madam. The Misses is expecting you.” 

“Thank you,” Shilo said as she stepped inside. The butler reached for her bags, but she politely declined. “I’ll hold on to these, thanks.” 

He led her into a sitting room just to the right of the foyer. He motioned for her to take a seat. She nodded and took a seat in the corner closest to the back wall. 

“The Misses will be with you shortly. Would you care for something to drink? A beer or perhaps a shot of something?” 

“No, thank you,” she said declining the offer. 

“Very well,” he said as he departed. 

Shilo looked around the room filled with antiques from the early 2000s. There were music awards for various famous artists stretching all the way back to Madonna and the Beastie Boys. 

“I understand you were looking for me?” a familiar voice said as she entered the room. 

Shilo turned around to see the face of her God mom. “Mag?” she said, dropping her toolbag.


	13. Chapter 13

“Shilo? What are you doing here?” Mag asked seeing her Goddaughter standing before her. 

“I was coming to repossess a trachea from Dakota Nebraska. Am I to assume that you’re Dakota Nebraska?” 

“Oh, no. I’m not Dakota. She’s upstairs in bed, sleeping.” 

“I saw you on stage. I saw you die. I saw you pull out your eyes. And yet…” Shilo trailed off. She looked at Mag, very much alive. Her eyes were completely unharmed from the Genetic Opera all that time ago. “How?” she asked. 

“It’s complicated.” 

“I have time,” Shilo said.

“Those coolers from GeneCo say otherwise.” 

Shilo looked at the two pop-up coolers still in her hands. “I had to do what I had to do,” she said. 

“It doesn’t bother me. I knew that you’d end up just like your father in time. And I didn’t care when I learned that he was the Repo Man shortly after Marni’s death. I still loved him like a brother. Just as I’ll always love you.” 

“I just can’t believe you’re still alive. I swear, I saw you die.” 

“You saw what I wanted you to see,” Mag said. “I’m a performer. I’ve performed all of my life. When I knew that my time would be up at the Genetic Opera, I called in some friends to help me out. I knew what Rotti was planning on doing. So I beat him to the punch. I controlled that entire scene.

“I ripped my eyes out using face props. In fact. I couldn’t see anything from the time I came on stage until I was wheeled off by an unsuspecting stage hand. I had fake eyes made for the sole purpose. They were equipped with fake blood underneath to sell it.” 

“But the fall,” Shilo said. “I saw you get impaled on that fence. How did that happen?” 

“I saw the stage before the performance began. I called my special effects team for some help. I knew the positioning of the routine. I knew where I would pull out my eyes. So we made some changes to the fence.”

“What sorts of changes?” 

“Rotti had designed the fence to be real rod iron. We replaced the fence with one made from stage aluminum. It would look identical, but would not impale me. The crests on top were on hinges. When I fell, the hinges moved them out of the way. It hurt slamming into the fence, but it wasn’t deadly.”

“How’d you get the spike through you?” 

“Stage play. It was build into my costume. As I hit the fence, the spike popped up and punctured some blood packs. I looked impaled, but really, I was still lying there, bent over for way too long. My back ached for weeks afterwards.” 

“I’m so glad you’re alive,” Shilo said, rushing to hug Mag. Mag hugged her back. 

“I wanted to tell you,” Mag said. “I wanted to let you know. But I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be safe. It’s still not safe, honestly. I know that GeneCo will come for me if they know that I’m still alive.” 

“Your secret is safe with me.” 

“I know.” 

“I do have to do my job,” Shilo said, breaking the happy reunion.

“I wouldn’t dare stop you from it. It will be sad to lose a friend and a confidant, but she failed to pay her bill. I can’t save her from herself,” Mag said with a sadness in her voice. 

“I wish I could help your friend out. I could try and get another trachea, but they’re tagged and scanned. They’ll know it wasn’t the one assigned to Dakota.” 

Mag shook her head. “I’d never ask you to do anything like that, Shilo. I’d never ask you to put yourself in that position. Come, I’ll show you to her room.” 

“Okay,” Shilo said. 

Mag led Shilo through the estate towards the master bedroom where Dakota was sleeping. Shilo took a look at the famous star and was struck instantly as how small she was. Shilo expected her to be the size of an adult woman. She was not expecting someone who wasn’t quite five feet in height. 

“She’s shorter than I expected,” Shilo said. 

“It’s all about camera angles. There’s a singer from Jamaica. People believe it’s a skinny white woman. It’s actually an obese black man named Jean Pierre.” 

“Really?” 

“No, not really,” Mag said with a laugh. “I just wanted to try and lighten up the situation.” 

“I see. Well, I have to get to work. You don’t have to stay. I promise, it won’t be pretty to watch.” 

Mag shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere. She’s my friend. Even though I can’t save her from this, I can be there for her to the very end.” 

Shilo nodded as she set down her coolers and her toolbag. She put on her helmet and her gloves as she prepared to operate. 

“My father wasn’t going to take your eyes. He would have died first.” 

“He did die, Shilo. And he may not have wanted to take them, but he would have in the end. Because that’s his job. Because it would have kept you safe. You meant the world to him. There’s nothing he wouldn’t have done if it meant protecting you.” 

Shilo made her incisions into Dakota’s throat. The singer didn’t stir. She didn’t move, but she bled freely. 

“Sedated?” 

“Drug addict. Rendered herself unconscious thanks to a heavy dose of Zydrate with beer.”

“I see,” she said as she separated the sections taking care not to damage any of the cartilage. She removed the last vestiges of Dakota’s body from the trachea and placed it on the bed. She expertly set up a third cooler and relocated the trachea. 

“I have to go. This is the last of my three trials. Then I’ll be a full time Repo.”

“Your father would be proud of you.” 

“I hope so,” Shilo said. “I feel like I’m betraying myself.” 

“No. You’re doing what has to be done.”

The two women smiled at each other for several moments before Shilo packed up her tools. “I’ll see you around, okay?” 

Mag nodded. “Absolutely.” 

Shilo grabbed her coolers and left the home. She had completed her trials. Now it was all up to the judges. She could only hope she did good enough to keep the job.


	14. Chapter 14

“I see you’ve made it back. And with three coolers. That’s most exciting,” Amber said as Shilo entered the arena where Doctor Cutter and Repo were sitting, waiting. “Please, bring the coolers up here and have a seat.” 

Shilo walked the coolers up the long table where the three were seated. She then took a seat in a cheap metal folding chair. 

It seems that Amber wanted to keep Shilo as uncomfortable as possible for as long as possible during this trial. 

“Let’s begin with the first cooler. This was the breast implants,” Amber said as she handed the cooler to Doctor Cutter. 

He opened the cooler and removed the breast implants, examining them from every angle. Once he had completed his analysis, he handed them to Repo. Repo examined them himself, looking at the skill required to remove them without damage. 

Once they had completed their evaluation, he handed the implants to a female gentern who was waiting to receive them. 

The two men wrote down the assessments of the breast and handed them to Amber. She nodded as she took the papers from them. 

The process repeated with the brain and the trachea. All the while, Shilo sat in the uncomfortable chair, shifting back and forth as she waited. She was eager to hear the results. She was just as eager to get some relief for her sore ass from the chair. 

“I have received all of the evaluations,” Amber said as the last documents were passed to her. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be a few minutes as I take a look and figure out if you’ve passed or failed. Then I’ll pass along the findings.” 

She stood and left the arena. Doctor Cutter and Repo both left the room. Shilo was alone in the chair, agonizing over each of the repossessions. 

Little did she know that this was also part of the evaluation. The trio were watching her on closed circuit cameras to see if she was able to handle time alone with what she’d done. It was considered the mental aptitude portion of the testing. A new addition after the last two recruits went insane with guilt after only a few missions. 

Shilo was the first to undergo the new stress protocol. 

She never left the chair, other than to slide from one cheek to the other. 

“Flying colors,” Doctor Cutter said as he watched the video. “If she’s experiencing any remorse or guilt for her actions, she’s not showing it. That’s exactly the type of personality we need.” 

“I agree,” Repo said. “She seems to be solid as a rock. We’ve been in here watching for nearly two hours and she hasn’t even left the chair to stretch. She’s acing this part of the testing.” 

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Amber said with a smile. “Shall we tell her the good news?” 

The two men nodded. 

The trio walked back into the arena where Shilo was still sitting on the chair. Her face showed that she was in pain from the unsupportive metal chair. Even at such a young age, she was feeling pain in her back and legs thanks to improper construction and ergonomics. 

“Well, we have some news for you,” Amber said without tipping her hand. “It appears that you were able to successfully remove all of the correct pieces of GeneCo property, store them, and bring them here without further damage.

“You were also able to recover these items without destroying any of the times. There is a sense of care that went into your work. This is something lacking from many of my Repos.”

Amber began walking around the room as she spoke. She circled Shilo several times while she explained the results of the various examinations and tests that had been conducted. 

“In the end, Shilo Wallace, I just wanted to let you know that you passed this examination with the highest score since your father. Congratulations. You’re officially a Repo Woman.” 

Amber, Doctor Cutter, and Repo all stood and applauded. Shilo slowly stood from the chair. Her legs throbbed as she tried to stand up straight. 

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for the opportunity.”

She shook hands with each of the testers. Shilo Wallace was now officially part of GeneCo, a company she swore she’d take down if she had the chance.


	15. Chapter 15

“What do you know about Landon Van Housen?” Amber asked. She was seated at her desk with her feet kicked up. 

Shilo, standing in front of the desk, shook her head. “I’ve never heard the name before.” She shifted slightly uncomfortable in her Repo uniform. 

“Landon Van Housen was one of my father’s best friends. He was considered one of the brains behind the science of organ transplantation for profit. He tried to come up with his own company back in the mid 2020s, but the company went under. My father was able to build GeneCo during the same time, thanks to innovation and connections. Landon had neither.”

“Fascinating,” Shilo said with a yawn. “I didn’t know you called me here on short notice for a history lesson.” 

Amber scowled at Shilo. “It’s not just a history lesson,” she said. “It’s important information about a special assignment I’m giving you. So, if you would, allow me to finish.”

Shilo waved her hand urging Amber to continue. 

“Thank you. Now, as I was saying, Landon and my father were friends and had similar ideas. My father, being the kind soul that he was, offered Landon a board position at GeneCo. Landon would be in charge of the marketing campaign. It was trivial, sure, but it was something that played to Landon’s strengths. He was an artistic person with ideas and vision, but no true means of realizing it. 

“And really,” she said with a smirk, “isn’t that what advertising is? Convincing people to want things they can’t have so they settle on the things they can have?” 

“So the guy made ads for your father. Fascinating. What’s this special project?” Shilo said, growing impatient at Amber’s story. 

“Patience. I’m getting there. My father fired Landon after the failed ‘GeneCo for you and GeneCo for me’ campaign of 2039. As part of the agreement, Landon would get to keep all of his organs for the next twenty years, free of charge. However, if on the twentieth anniversary Landon doesn’t pay for the organs, in full, they are to be repossessed on the spot.”

“Let me guess,” Shilo said. “The anniversary is coming up and you don’t think he’s going to pay, so you want me to repossess the organs.” 

“Not quite,” Amber said. “I’m afraid that he will pay for the organs, and I want them back. There’s a buzz in the streets that Landon has once again been considering creating his own version of GeneCo. Now, of course, we’re the biggest game in town, but that doesn’t mean we take threats like this lightly.”   
“So you want me to repossess organs that aren’t in default?” 

“Yes,” Amber said with a smile on her face. “I want you to recover those organs before the anniversary hits.”

“Isn’t that against the law?”

Amber shrugged. “We’re GeneCo. We’re above the law.” 

“Okay,” Shilo said, unconvinced. “Why are we risking breaking the law to take organs that aren’t in default?” 

“You wouldn’t understand,” Amber said. 

“Try me. I’m surprisingly understanding,” Shilo said, leaning over. She placed her hands on Amber’s desk, supporting her weight on her arms. 

Amber took a sip of her whiskey. “You don’t intimidate me, Shilo.”

“I’m not trying to, Amber.” 

“Good. Now, I want those organs because he is a traitor to my father and to GeneCo. It was a bad deal that was made. If we allow him to keep those organs, it will make us appear weak. Like we can be negotiated with. It’s a bad precedent.”

“And stealing organs isn’t?” 

“We’re not stealing organs,” Amber said. “We own those organs. We’re just collecting them earlier than anticipated.” 

“You can call it whatever you want, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s stealing. Pure and simple.” 

“I don’t give a fuck what you want to call it. I want those organs and you work for me. So you will get those organs for me before next Saturday or you’ll be the one whose organs I take. Do I make myself clear?” 

“Crystal,” Shilo said. The frustration of her bargain began to grow inside of her. 

“Good. Now, all the information will be loaded into your communicator. You’ll also have your regular case load of repossessions, so you’ll have to work it in when you can.” Amber’s posture returned to relaxed indifference after her brief fling with rage. 

“Understood.” Shilo turned to leave Amber’s office. 

“Oh, and one more thing,” Amber said. “Don’t cross me, Shilo. You won’t like me when I’m crossed.” 

“Understood,” she said again. She rolled her eyes as soon as her face was away from Amber’s gaze.


	16. Chapter 16

“She won’t do it. She doesn’t have the balls to do it,” Luigi said as he sat down to eat dinner with his family. “You’re wasting your time on her.”

Amber shook her head in disagreement. “I think you’ll find that she’s capable of doing far more than we give her credit for. She’s already an excellent Repo, and she’s only just begun. Her skills are quite similar to her father’s.” 

“She makes the pretty cuts?” Pavi asked, staring at himself in the mirror. 

“Of all the people who have gone through the Repo exam since I took over, she’s done the absolute best job of properly removing the organs without damaging them. She’s got a gentleness to her.”

“A gentleness that’s going to keep her from getting Landon’s organs,” Luigi said. He slammed his fist on the table for emphasis. “I don’t know why you’re having her do this instead of one of our guys.” 

“Your guys are sloppy. Half of them are drunks. They’re costing this company more than they’re saving it. I’d fire the lot of them if it wouldn’t get out and cause a panic amongst the shareholders.” 

“Who gives a fuck about the shareholders?” Luigi asked. “We have a serious problem on our hands. If he gets to keep those organs, then we’re going to have a lot of people demanding the same treatment.” 

“I understand,” Amber said with a cool confidence. “I trust that Shilo will make the right decision. If she doesn’t, then that’s okay. We’ll get our revenge on her family for killing father by ending her life, rather than just owning it.” 

“I think you’re making a mistake, sister. Shilo is dangerous. You’re toying with something that could cause harm to us all.” 

Amber laughed. “She’s harmless. She’s too concerned about protecting her father’s legacy and scoring Zydrate for her drug dealing boyfriend to really be of much trouble. Besides, we’re surrounded by scores of security guards. There’s nothing she’d be able to do to harm us.”

“You have a lot of confidence,” Pavi said. 

“You have to have confidence if you’re going to make it in this position. You can’t doubt yourself or the whole company begins to experience it.” 

“Does that mean you’re going to announce the real financial numbers?” he asked his mirror. 

Amber laughed nervously. “I have been releasing the real numbers. Every number that has been provided has been vetted and approved by our accounting department and the board.” 

Pavi glanced at Amber then back at his mirror. “If you say so, sister.” 

“Can we focus, please?” Luigi said, slamming his fist again. “Why are we trusting her to get these organs? Why can’t Pavi and I head out to get them?” 

Amber shook her head. “You’re too sloppy. You just start stabbing and cutting, but you have no elegance or grace.

“As for him,” she said as she turned to look at Pavi. “He has too much elegance, but he doesn’t have the balls to actually do a repossession himself. You two together might be a decent Repo, but you’re too busy fighting with each other.” 

“It’s his fault,” both men said looking at the other. 

“Enough,” she said, raising her voice for the first time. “I have made my decision. Shilo will get me those organs or she’ll pay with her life. This isn’t a game. This is business. I know that she’ll do the right thing for GeneCo.” 

“How can you be so sure?” Pavi asked. “You’re risking everything on this girl. Do you know something we don’t?” 

“I know lots of things you don’t,” she said with a wink. 

“I think you’re making a mistake,” Pavi said. 

“I agree,” Luigi said. “We cannot trust her. Not yet.” 

Amber raised her hands to silence her brothers. “Trust me boys. She’s going to do exactly what I want her to do. She’s going to save GeneCo from financial ruin. Just you wait and see.”


	17. Chapter 17

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Graverobber said as he handed a vial of Zydrate to a customer.

“Nope. I’m completely serious,” Shilo said. “That’s what they want me to do.” 

“I mean, I knew that GeneCo was evil, but this is beyond insane. They want you to break the law for them?” 

Shilo nodded. “Exactly. And if I don’t, then I know they’ll do something to me like they did to my father. It’s like I can’t win.” 

“Fuck, I’m sorry kid. I didn’t think they’d do something this dastardly this soon. I figured they’d wait at least a year maybe more. One thing about Rotti Largo, he was a patient man. He played the long game when it came to revenge.” 

“Yeah, well, it seems that has skipped his children. I just have to figure out what I’m going to do?”

There was a tap on her shoulder. Shilo turned around to see a hooded woman standing there, dressed in all black and leather. “If you want some Z, it’ll be fifty credits.”

“I’m not here for Z. I’m here to talk to you. Both of you.” 

Shilo recognized the voice even before the figure pulled back the hood just slightly enough to expose her face. 

“Did you want to talk here, Mag?” Shilo asked. Graverobber turned around with great interest at the mention of Mag’s name. 

Shilo hadn’t had the opportunity to fill him in on Mag’s survival yet. 

“Meet me at this address in an hour,” she said as she slipped Shilo a piece of paper. “Don’t be late. I won’t wait around for you if you’re not on time.” 

Mag turned and walked away as quickly as she had appeared. Graverobber watched as the hooded woman disappeared around the corner and into the mass of people walking hither and yore. 

“Was that?” he asked, trailing off.

Shilo nodded. “Mag.”

“She’s alive?” 

She nodded again.

“And you didn’t tell me?” 

“I didn’t have the chance. I was filling you in on the important stuff first.”

“You don’t consider your godmother being alive as important?” 

“It is important and I was going to tell you, but I had to tell you about GeneCo’s latest plan for me.” 

He sighed. “I guess when you say it like that, they’re both important. You should have told me though. You should have told me as soon as you found out she was alive. Who else knows?” 

Shilo shook her head. “Just you and me at this point. And we have to keep it a secret. If Amber Sweet finds out, they’ll make sure she’s dead this time.” 

“You know her secret is safe with me,” he said. He pretended to zip his lips to prove his point. 

“Good. I’m already not happy with how things are going with this job. But at least we’re able to get a lot of good product.”

“Yeah, I’m able to distill this and make a fortune. We might be able to retire from the drug life in another year or two. Could you imagine that? Us, retirees at our age,” Graverobber said with a laugh.

Shilo laughed. “People don’t retire anymore. They owe too much to GeneCo and the other companies out there.” 

“Bargains they made of their own free will.” 

“But are they really? I had to take a child’s brain. He didn’t make that choice. He didn’t make the choice to be sick. He didn’t choose to get a new brain. His parents did. And he’s the one who ultimately paid.” 

A single tear rolled down Shilo’s cheek. It was the first signs of emotion she’d shown since she started the process. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. 

“Cheer up, kid. It’ll all be okay. Just you wait and see. They’ll get what’s coming to them. It’s just a matter of time.” 

“Yeah, you’re right,” she said as she wiped away the single tear from her cheek with the back of her hand. “Let’s go. We don’t want to keep her waiting.”


End file.
